How to Manage Bloating

Bloating is a common complaint in men starting a higher calorie/protein diet along with exercise and testosterone replacement therapy. I must admit this is one of my main issues to which I have to stay ahead. I have found several things that help me decrease my bloatness.

There may be one or a combination of factors involved.

1- Water retention created by hormone, liver or other issues. Drinking at least 6-8 glasses of water a day can actually help to keep your kidneys flushed and happy.

2- I was diagnosed with H Pylori infection in my stomach (they do this via an urea breath test) that was treated with antibiotics. I replenished my friendly bacteria with probiotics after the antibiotics.

3- I focused on avoiding excessive coffee (one cup a day is enough) and spicy foods seem to also help. I avoid sodas like a plague also. These liquids can be very irritating to the gut mucosa. Green tea is definitely a better choice than coffee.

4- I used probiotic supplements and one serving of sugar free Greek yogurt help me also.

5- I discovered that chewing on dried ginger bits that I buy at the grocery store where the bulk nuts and grains are (most regular supermarkets in Houston have this option. Some cities with Whole Foods and Trader Joe's also do). Ginger is well known for anti-inflammatory and gut inflammation properties.

6- I switched to eating smaller meals more frequently and not having a big dinner before bed also help tremendously. Our digestive system may be able to handle smaller meals. This is also good to maintain better glucose levels during the day and to avoid overeating in one sitting. And remember that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Read this article

7- I noticed exercise keeps my excessive body water to a minimum also (I use the ring test. My ring is tight when I walk in the gym and lose when I walk out).

8- I am careful not to consume more than 30 grams per serving of whey and no more than 5 grams per day of creatine monohydrate to minimize bloating. I take whey with digestive enzyme supplements.

If nothing works, you may want to be referred to a good gastroenterologist. I had to get a urea breath test, an upper GI endoscopy and stool tests to diagnosed my H Pylori infection. H Pylori is a common bacterial infection that can create gastritis and ulcers.

I think kefir is one of the most under-acknowledged probiotics. Where yogurt may have 2-5 strains, Kefir has 12-14. It's readily available, my Wal-Mart now sells it, and cheap, if you breakdown the serving size its as cheap if not cheaper than yogurt.

I've been through all of this: two GI doctors, ton of celiac testing, fodmaps; 2 colonoscopies, 2 endoscopies, and 2 ph scope procedures, all within about a year's time. It took a while but I figured out what works for me with the help of a dietician who is a local expert in celiac disease. We found: I'm not celiac but I do have some degree of gluten sensitivity, the commercial wheat products. I also have some lactose intolerance, particularly with milk; but not with yogurt. I do have minor fructose issues if I eat too many fruit of the high fodmap category, particularly apples.
And I do eat grains - oats/quinoa/buckwheat with no problems whatsoever.

It was painstaking - trying different foods for 2 weeks at a time and it took us 9 months to get a baseline and almost another 6 months before it really came together.

As noted by Nelson - a robust microbiome is most critical to your health. To try and help it - I use a probiotic, eat local artisan unpasteurized fermented veggies, a local 100% whole fat grass-fed yogurt that is rated the best in the country, and eat a wide variety of cooked/uncooked veggies/fruit to feed that bacteria. I've read that the latter is highly important as per a number of researchers into our microbiome. Avoid antibiotics, antibacterial stuff, get out there in the woods, start a garden, get dirty. I think the very best thing I did this year was during a 2-week hiking trip, drink out of these mountain springs (the water was pristine and safe.) Well water and clean running springs are chock full of great bacteria.

H Pylori is both a good and bad bacteria, it's been part of the human ecosystem for at least 50,000 years. You get rid of it and it may make you more susceptible to acid reflux and esophageal cancer, not to mention autoimmune issues: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3286735/

But again, it can cause gastritis, ulcers, and in mainly older people, stomach cancer.

My digestion is now very good. No more bloating/stomach pains/constipation/malabsorption. My allergies are far better, no more sinus infections, no more antihistamines, Singulair, and Flonase; just a neti pot now and then takes care of the sniffles. I never had allergies growing up - I was exposed to farms and farm animals and drank out of a well. It was not until I graduated college and moved to the city for a job that my allergies exploded on me within a few years to where I had to have 2 surgeries to clear out nasal polyps.

Thanks croaker24 for your great input. I have gone through a lot of testing also. We forget that over 80 percent of our CD4 cells (the directors of the immune system) live in our intestinal mucosa. Some of us with immune disorders (I only have 25% of a normal immune system after 33 years with HIV) can have even more allergies than regular folk, so our search is definitely intense.

I spend some money on this test for food allergies also. I wonder if anyone else has used this company.

I've been through all of this: two GI doctors, ton of celiac testing, fodmaps; 2 colonoscopies, 2 endoscopies, and 2 ph scope procedures, all within about a year's time. It took a while but I figured out what works for me with the help of a dietician who is a local expert in celiac disease. We found: I'm not celiac but I do have some degree of gluten sensitivity, the commercial wheat products. I also have some lactose intolerance, particularly with milk; but not with yogurt. I do have minor fructose issues if I eat too many fruit of the high fodmap category, particularly apples.
And I do eat grains - oats/quinoa/buckwheat with no problems whatsoever.

It was painstaking - trying different foods for 2 weeks at a time and it took us 9 months to get a baseline and almost another 6 months before it really came together.

As noted by Nelson - a robust microbiome is most critical to your health. To try and help it - I use a probiotic, eat local artisan unpasteurized fermented veggies, a local 100% whole fat grass-fed yogurt that is rated the best in the country, and eat a wide variety of cooked/uncooked veggies/fruit to feed that bacteria. I've read that the latter is highly important as per a number of researchers into our microbiome. Avoid antibiotics, antibacterial stuff, get out there in the woods, start a garden, get dirty. I think the very best thing I did this year was during a 2-week hiking trip, drink out of these mountain springs (the water was pristine and safe.) Well water and clean running springs are chock full of great bacteria.

H Pylori is both a good and bad bacteria, it's been part of the human ecosystem for at least 50,000 years. You get rid of it and it may make you more susceptible to acid reflux and esophageal cancer, not to mention autoimmune issues: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3286735/

But again, it can cause gastritis, ulcers, and in mainly older people, stomach cancer.

My digestion is now very good. No more bloating/stomach pains/constipation/malabsorption. My allergies are far better, no more sinus infections, no more antihistamines, Singulair, and Flonase; just a neti pot now and then takes care of the sniffles. I never had allergies growing up - I was exposed to farms and farm animals and drank out of a well. It was not until I graduated college and moved to the city for a job that my allergies exploded on me within a few years to where I had to have 2 surgeries to clear out nasal polyps.

Ten to 25% of healthy persons experience bloating. It is particularly common in persons with the irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. While the cause of bloating remains unknown old explanations such as a excessive intestinal gas, exaggerated lumbar lordosis and psychiatric problems have been disproved. New suggestions include recent weight gain, weak or inappropriately relaxed abdominal muscles, an inappropriately contracted diaphragm and retained fluid in loops of distal small bowel. No treatment is of unequivocal benefit but a low FODMAPs diet, probiotics and the non-absorbable antibiotic rifaximin offer some hope. Treatment by weight loss, abdominal exercise, prokinetics and girdles need more study.